Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Supremacists on the March

TPQ runs a statement from Greater Ardoyne Residents Collectiveissued on 24th March 2013

This coming Easter Monday the Apprentice Boys will once again have an unwanted sectarian triumphalist march through Ardoyne, Mountainview and The Dales against the wishes of the vast majority of local residents who remain opposed to such open expressions of sectarianism in their area.
Permission for this march has been granted by the discredited Parades Commission despite the continued refusal of the Apprentice Boys to speak to local residents groups. This is despite the Parades Commission having a supposed position of looking unfavourably on applications where marches are contentious yet no attempt to speak to residents is made.

What the Parades Commission are demonstrating is that they are in fact failing to follow their own guidelines and procedures when making determinations and vindicating the long held view of GARC and others that they are unfit for purpose.

However this offer does not extend to UVF front organisations and their spokespeople. Their only objective in terms of the parading issue in our area is not to find a peaceful resoulution, but to boost their own egos and support for an organisation that in the not too distant past the people of the Shankill held demonstrations against.

The Apprentice Boys are, like the other Loyal Orders, a Protestant supremacist organisation that have at the centre of their ethos the fundamental belief that being Protestant somehow makes them a class above the rest of us. Nowhere is this exemplified better than in their attitude to Ardoyne Residents for each of their marches here. The Apprentice Boys board a bus in the Shankill/Woodvale area, travel past Greater Ardoyne on said bus, disembark at their march assembly point, proceed to march through Greater Ardoyne where they are neither welcome nor appreciated, are greeted by a howling mob of loyalists behind Holy Cross Chapel and then reboard their waiting bus and travel 75 miles to Derry.

The obvious questions to be asked of the Apprentice Boys, locally and at leadership level, is why they simply don’t board their bus when they assemble and go to Derry? Why is it so important to march through an area that has shown time and time again for generations that their sectarianism is not welcome? Why can they not have a day celebrating their culture without first having to trample over the rights of their neighbours to live free from sectarianism? And the simple answers are that they enjoy the opportunity to remind the “taigs” of their place, and that while permission is continually granted by the Parades Commission then it will be continually sought.

For our part, GARC remain fully committed to having dialogue with any and all of the Loyal Orders, either face to face or through agreed intermediaries, in order that they get a representative feeling of the vast majority of Greater Ardoyne residents – that no sectarian marches are welcome. This has been our stated position and remains the case.

However this offer does not extend to UVF front organisations and their spokespeople. Their only objective in terms of the parading issue in our area is not to find a peaceful resoulution, but to boost their own egos and support for an organisation that in the not too distant past the people of the Shankill held demonstrations against.

It remains our view that the only peaceful solution to this issue is to have a neutral no-parade zone on the Crumlin and Ardoyne Roads as proposed by us in 2012, where no one parades and causes disruption to the lives of the people of Ardoyne, Mountainview and The Dales. To date this is the only attempt at solution that has not been attempted, and it is GARC’s opinion that the creation of such a zone would end the hurt, distress, disruption and chaos that ensues in the aftermath of sectarian parades through our area.

GARC remain committed, as the largest and most representative residents group in the area, to opposing sectarian marches through peaceful and radical means. We continue to receive massive support within the area, and will continue to do our best to give a voice to all those fed up with the continual abuse of our human rights by Loyal Orders, the Parades Commission and the PSNI and others who facilitate unwanted sectarian marches.

8
comments
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They still believe in their own minds that they are the supreme species.

Scenario for everyone, The Dark Horse, Peter The Punt (Robinson) stating to the parades commission, Stop this parade and you will have an Ulster Workers Strike, They have SF were they wanted them to be, Under there feet. Once SF signed the GFA document, THEY BECAME BRITISH, they accepted the rule of the crown, and, No Longer can they call themselves "REPUBLICANS", But , they still pretend to do so. whether its Bodenstown or wherever , they don't have a right to be there. How many have been lifted in Ardoyne and other areas on the word of SF?, The people will soon realise there lies and deceit. They can fool all of the people some of the time, But they cant fool all of the people all of the time. seems its going to be the same again, RUC/PSNI closing of Ardoyne so as the Residence can't get out, Just to let 1690 bigots trample over the Ardoyne Area, whilst UVF commanders stand at woodvale, drunk out of there heads, encouraging the drunk Protestant youths to throw empty beer bottles, golf balls, ball bearings. To me there is only one alternative. Rebel against it, logic states there is no other alternative. The LOL do not want to speak to the official Residents spokes persons (GARC). Maybe someone has a more logical means of diluting this annual fiasco, But I doubt it, SF gave them the right to trample over the taigs. Is that not sad or what, and, they still have the brazen face to call themselves Republicans?.

thanks for carrying the statement mackers. GARC held there annual AGM around 10 weeks ago with a great turnout from the local community and a committee was elected from the floor.This statement was sent to all media outlets and all have refused to carry it, even in todays irish news they choose to run with the sf front residents group who speak on behalf of no one but themselves and the orders they are giving from sevestpol st or connolly house.

don't worry. Sevastopol Street has no say here. We have always broken its censorship edicts. The Irish News should have carried it to reflect the diversity of opinion out there at a time when the First Minister is trying to starve it of readership. And agree with the paper or not we must never allow it to be censored.

Itsjustmacker,They are as supreme as the Klu Klux Klan, only difference is the Klan covered their faces as there was a degree of accountability not here!An Island of equals, shared future, respecting traditions, how ridiculous must this skound to the people spouting this nonsense.

Just so you know and understand our Protestant and loyalism 'countrymen'. Here's something I read recently researching the importance of banners in unionist culture.

'According to Anthony D. Buckley, the most common Bible stories shown on banners are from the Old Testament and most have one or both of the following themes: a Godly person or people living amongst strangers or sinners, or in a foreign land; and the rewards of faithfulness.'

Now stop being rude to the Protestants you fenian heathens! KNEEL and REPENT!!!

Anthony McIntyre

Former IRA volunteer and ex-prisoner, spent 18 years in Long Kesh, 4 years on the blanket and no-wash/no work protests which led to the hunger strikes of the 80s. Completed PhD at Queens upon release from prison. Left the Republican Movement at the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement, and went on to become a journalist. Co-founder of The Blanket, an online magazine that critically analyzed the Irish peace process.